Baked French Toast

It’s what the french call pain perdu, or "lost bread"—a dish that was created to revive day-old or stale baguettes. Here, hot and sweet, baked to a golden crisp, and dripping with syrup, you’ll find not a single thing is missing.

Preparation

Generously butter 1 side of each slice and arrange slices, buttered sides up, in 1 layer in a buttered 13- by 9- by 2-inch glass baking dish, squeezing them slightly to fit if necessary.

Whisk together eggs, milk, and 1/4 teaspoon salt until combined well, then pour evenly over bread. Chill, covered, until bread has absorbed all of custard, at least 1 hour and up to 1 day, depending on bread.

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Bring mixture to room temperature and sprinkle bread with sugar.

Bake, uncovered, in middle of oven until bread is puffed and top is golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Serve immediately.

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Reviews

Well I loved this recipe! I do have to say that I use only very heavy bread, thickly cut of at least 1", as the recipe asks. I have followed many times the sweet, custard version, but have also made a custard sans sugar, but added any broth and garlic and onion as well. After it is baked up, I place it on a hot plate and top it with ricotta, herbs, tomatoes, etc. Shredded chicken on top is lovely, too. Cube them up, sweet or savory, and top with yummies and toothpicks for appetizers! It is a style I learned when living in Switzerland for 16 years, and traveling everywhere. Wherever they have culture, you will see breads baked and topped with a myriad of foods. The palate is the limit!

I've made this four or five times now and on the initial go round I made it per the recipe and my family was quite disappointed. I, on the other hand, thought it could be winner if a few things changed. I one cup of milk and one more egg to the recipe if I am completely filling the pan with bread slices. This is usually enough that the pieces aren't overly dry. I also mix the white sugar into the egg and milk mixture versus sprinkling it on top. I will add some cinnamon if I'm using a white bread and I omit if I'm using a cinnamon tube bread. I then brush or drizzle the soaked slices with melted butter and I sprinkle a little brown sugar on top of that which caramelizes nicely as it bakes. The result is a moist inside with a crunchy, slightly dry crust that's bursting with sweet, toasty flavor that reminds me of the boxes of Cinnamon Toast slices we could once get in the grocery stores. With the caramelized sugar it doesn't even really need any syrup to be a winner in my house.

Let me start by saying that love French toast. I could eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It was my main craving while pregnant, and I order it whenever I go out for breakfast. All that to say this recipe makes amazing French toast. I'm not the best in the kitchen but this is super easy. I recommend trying it out.

Key to this recipe is to flip the bread over before after you take it out of fridge to get to warm temperature. The milk mixture is primarily in the bottom half of the bread. If you don’t flip it the top will brown over and the bottom will be soggy.

Really good. I was in a pinch and I only had an hour to soak the bread. It was plenty. This has a great flavor and the butter adds a nice touch. I did add some vanilla to the milk (I used almond milk instead of whole and it was still great). I would make this again and change very little!

I went a little wild with this one and added gorgonzola. Made it as written, with a $1.99 loaf of Italian bread from Lucky's, but reduced sugar to 1 tablespoon. Only had to soak the bread for an hour. After 21 minutes it was beautiful, brown, and puffy. I added a chopped wedge of gorgonzola and put it back in the oven until the cheese browned (about 5 minutes). Served with maple syrup!

This was delicious! I served this to an eclectic group, and all liked it. Per other reviewers suggestions, I added a teaspoon each of cinnamon and vanilla, as well as the zest and juice of one orange. I served it with a blueberry compote, and it was perfect -- not soggy at all, and nice and crisp on top. I did allow it a full over-night to soak up all the custard.

Really good. Thank you to all who suggested adding vanilla, cinnamon, orange zest and juice, and brown sugar. Taste was heavenly. Buttering both sides of bread and baking dish, gave browned crispy toast and no sticking to pan problems. Melted butter, added maple syrup and heated till warm. You can add sliced bananas to the melted butter and sauté briefly then add syrup until heated and pass separately. Will definitely make again.

LOVE this recipe. This is now our traditional Christmas breakfast.So easy to assemble the night before. Perfect for any morning you want to serve something special, but don't want a labor-intensive morning in the kitchen. Everyone absoluetly loved it. It really does feed about six, that's about all the bread you can squish into the pan. For a bigger crowd make more. Also, I goofed and added the sugar to the milk and eggs mixture, so I just poured it over the bread anyway,& next morning used 2 TB brown sugar to dust over mixture before baking: not too sweet, perfect! Also, buttered both sides of the bread as per review. Lightly crispy top, deliciously eggy and soft inside, perfect balance of buttery sweet!

This is a keeper, much easier than
frying and uses less oil too. It puffed
up beautifully. Added taste
enhancements as suggested...cinnamon,
vanilla, orange zest and orange juice
to custard; and, cinnamon to turbinado
sugar topping. I buttered both sides
of bread, pressed sliced almonds onto
tops, and oiled the pan. Used whole
grain french bread and six slices was
more than enough for three. Used 3 eggs
and 2 cups 1% milk...spooned off excess
custard the next morning before baking.

the recipe as written makes a really good, but very plain french toast (not soggy at all), but it definitely needs more flavor. the reviewers are right, add some vanilla, orange zest, whatever makes you happy.

I made this recipe last year for Easter brunch and everyone was floored! It came out perfectly and the taste was awesome. I followed some previous reviewers advice and added the orange zest to the custard. It made a world of difference. This year it was the first thing I was requested to bring at Easter brunch again!

Read the reviews before deciding exactly how to prepare this recipe. I used 3 eggs instead of two, added a tsp each of vanilla and cinnamon to the custard mixture and right before popping in the oven, sprinkled with brown sugar instead of white granular. The brown sugar gave it a little crunch.
I didn't have any problem with sogginess, but I think the key is to let the bread soak overnight. When I pulled it out of the refrigerator, there was no liquid in the dish.
This was the best French toast I've ever had; very guest-worthy!

I was quite nervous
after all the soggy
reviews, so I made a
test batch before
serving it at a
holiday brunch. It
was delicious! I
added some extra
spices to the mix,
but otherwise cooked
as suggested. The
tops were crispy,
the inside was soft
and delicious.
Everyone loved it, I
should have made
more!

Tried this and the 3 c. milk version of baked french toast, and this one wins! Nice and golden crisp on top, not soggy or bread-pudding like. A little bit time consuming having to butter each piece, but worth it. Definitely added a dash of vanilla and a couple shakes of cinnamon